A Day on the Slate Islands

My day started at 7.00am with a walk round Oban Airport as it is just up the road from our hotel. It was longer than I thought and not the easiest of routes due to long grass and jaggy bushes but I made the 4 mile trip in an hour and 30 minutes but was very wet at the end. This aircraft looked as if it had lost a nose wheel on landing and it was parked at the side of the runway. 

The view as I set of on my walk 

The purpose of our day was to visit the Slate Islands. We had booked a cottage on Seil 4 years ago but had to cancel when Gaye was ill. It was great to eventually get there. This is the Bridge over the Atlantic as you go onto Seil.

The main village on Seil is Ellenabeich which overlooks the Island of Easdale. The village is mostly old Slate workers cottages and is full of character.

The Ferry from Elenabeich to Easdale is very small but its only a 5 minute journey. We enjoyed the company of these two American ladies from Seattle who were visiting Scotland for the first time and loving every minute of it. 

One of the flooded Slate Quarries. These were flooded by a storm and very high tide in the late 19th century  and overnight the slate workers were all out of a job.

After spending a couple of hours on Easdale we headed to the ferry for the Island if Luing. Its only a small ferry with a capacity for 4 cars so we decided not to take our car over as we might not have got back when we wanted to. There were also some very heavy rain showers so we just did the 10 minute crossing went ashore for a minute and then returned on the same ferry. At least we can say we have been to Luing. 

Gaye was befriended by the Captains dog which stayed with us for both journeys

Arriving in Luing

The dog wont leave Gaye but that was because she threw a stone for it when we were on the Jetty

It really was a very cute dog and our Hannah would have loved it

The Jetty at Seil

A full load of cars on the way back from Luing